That evening I found myself alone in Cassius's library, feeling like my body was falling apart piece by piece. My back ached from hunching over books all day, my arms burned from reaching and lifting, and a headache pulsed behind my eyes like a second heartbeat. The air hung thick with the smell of old leather and paper that crumbled at the edges—books that looked like they'd been gathering dust since before I was born.

Exhaustion weighed on me like a wet blanket. I hadn't eaten since noon, ...